Books are an amazing, inexpensive and sometimes free (think of your local library or the countless free e-books available online) jaunt into adventure. Books can also open up your mind, subtly, without you ever realizing it. There’s a reason why they call several of our most timeless books- Great Books. My parents encouraged me to read all throughout my school years and, as a result, I read many books in and outside of the classroom as I was growing up. Amazingly, several of those books I remember to this day. These are the books that lingered, impressed me, made me think, and resonated within me. The following is my Top 10 of which I’m sure is just the beginning of a much longer list of books I have loved throughout the years. The books are not listed in any particular order and each one is as dear to me as another:

1. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (this book was among several titles by this author I avidly sought and read at the library of my Elementary School)

2. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

3. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (this was an amazing book! The idea that books could be illegal was scary to say the least)

4. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (who can forget lovable Lennie?)

5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

6. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

7. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (what an amazing book and scary concept for society)

8. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf (I loved this children’s book so much, I bought it several years ago for my personal collection)

9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (still love watching every re-make of this movie)

10. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (what a sad, haunting story but one that remained with me to this day)

So, there’s my list… though there are many, many more books I read and loved that aren’t included in the list above.

So now it’s your turn. Tell me what’s on your list? What books impressed you or stayed with you during your “growing up years?”